We continue our 2 part conversation with Marvel writer Jeff Parker. Jeff discusses his 2010 Oni book with Steve Lieber UNDERGROUND, and how a leaked pdf of the book at 4chan ended up being a positive publicity happening resulting in new readers and sales for the overlooked project.

We also discuss the X-Men First Class Film, and Jeff's minor advisory involvement, more Thunderbolts talk including future guest stars and more on Man-Thing's unique role on the team.

We discuss the old guard of comic creators like Alex Toth, Al Williamson and Burne Hogarth . The Will Eisner documentary . Adventure comic strips like Steve Canyon, Rip Kirby, Prince Valiant, and Flash Gordon from old and current creators Milton Cannif, Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Mark Schultz and Gary Gianni .

We talk about fantasy books, from The Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books,  to The Hobbitt and disgraced author James Frey's I Am Number Four . Plus loads of old movie talk. From the implausability of Dean Martin making good westerns, (Rio Bravo & Bandollero) to the best John Ford films like The Searchers, The Last Hurrah, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance .

In Part One Jeff tallks about The Red Hulk, his new direction for the Thunderbolts, and we look back at the wrap up to The Agents Of Atlas. We discuss the story contributions from Jeff's collaborators Gabe Hardman, Kev Walker and Declan Shalvey.

Plus we debut the Word Balloon Hotline, and start taking your weekly calls about the comic book news, past guests and any questions you have about the show. To make a call for a future episode, call 312-841-7025.

Paul Kupperberg joins us to talk about my favorite book in 2010. Life With Archie, The Married Life. In 2009 Archie Comics finally addressed the possibilites of what would happen if Archie chose Veronica over Bettty and visa versa, but the Michael Uslan mini series was only the beginning.

Archie The Married Life is a straight up soap opera without ever losing the Archie charm and sentiment. Oldtime characters are at the same time true to their Riverdale roots, while facing adult problems that are heavier than who’s going to the dance Saturday night. One of the Archie regulars even passed away in the December issue. But despite the drama  there’s still plenty of humor and satirical nods to modern pop culture that make this a great read month in and out.

We talk about Paul’s succsess taking over the adult Archie storyline, and the publisher’s fearless embrace of the modern comics era. From digital day and date release of brand new monthlies simultaneous with the direct store market at half the paper price, and  the promise of more new titles and experimentation with the Archie brand.

We also look back at some of Paul’s  memorable stories and characters at DC Comics, from killing Aquababy, and Vigilante, to creating Checkmate and Arion, Lord Of Atlantis.  Arion fans may also enjoy Paul’s latest e-books through Buffalo Avenue Books and Smashwords: Two Tales Of Atlantis and the anthology collection In My Shorts plus you'll hear about his stint as editor of the Weekly World News .

This was a 2010 Xmas extra...Music Historian Jeff Marcus joins me to talk about his 2 new books celebratng the lost art of 45 rpm picture sleeves. for decades they were an important part of popular music publicity, and are still widely collected today.

We talk about the whole history of the vinyl 45 records and how they changed the music business.

Some words of wisdom from a number of Word Balloon guests from 2010 episodes. Their thoughts not only focus on some of the biggest stories of 2010, they provide perspective on the year to come.

Featuring Brian Bendis, Greg Rucka, Steve Englehart, Jeph Loeb, Mark Millar, Ed Brubaker Robert Kirkman,  Jimmy Palmiotti, Matt Fraction and many more .